The State also recorded 60 deaths, taking the death toll to 1,577. Almost 61% of Maharashtras cases and 60% of fatalities have been contributed by Mumbai.

Extending beyond Mumbai, the entire Mumbai Metropolitan Region including Navi Mumbai, Thane and Mira-Bhayandar has emerged as a hotspot with almost 36,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths reported from the wider region.

Of the 60 deaths reported on Saturday, 40 were from Mumbai, one from Vasai-Virar, one from Thane, 14 from Pune, two from Solapur, one from Satara and one from Nanded. State health officials, however, clarified that 42 of these deaths were from the last 24 hours while the rest were reported over the past fortnight.

Of the latest victims, 41 were men while 19 were women. Almost 60% had co-morbid conditions like diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, which made their recovery difficult.

Doctors say that one of the crucial problems is that many of these patients have uncontrolled blood sugar levels, blood pressure and other parameters as they have not been taking medication or their condition is yet to be diagnosed. When the novel coronavirus attacks such patients, they deteriorate rapidly.

More recoveries

State officials said that the recovery rate was also showing improvement. However, the increased number of discharges can also be attributed to a new policy which does not mandate 14-day long stay in hospital or two negative tests before discharge if the patient has recovered and has no symptoms.

On Saturday, 821 patients from hospitals across Maharashtra went home. Altogether, 13,404 patients have been discharged so far. The State has carried out over 3.48 lakh tests for COVID-19 so far. At present, 4.85 lakh people are in home quarantine and 33,545 people are in institutional quarantine.

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